Spring Cleaning ... Holiday Cleaning

Scrub to the Scent of Your Favorite Foods

CAPSULE REPORT: Why scrub the sink or clean your counters with harsh-smelling bleach- or ammonia-based products, when you can do as good a cleaning job while you enjoy the scent of a French herb garden or a pink grapefruit? We’ve been cleaning with three “designer” brands, Caldrea, Method and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, and and they actually make cleaning fun while doing as good a job as the “tough stuff.” We’re hooked! We only live once, so we’re giving up jumbo-sized value-priced cleaners from warehouse clubs. We’re now full-fledged, food-fragranced, boutique-brand cleaning commandos!

Even if nothing makes you happier than a fresh-scrubbed kitchen or bath, those noxious scents from commercial cleansers don’t make getting to the end goal a joyous journey. A pleasing fragrance makes the task more enjoyable to scrub-lovers as well as to those who hate to as much as wipe down a counter. Harsh chemical odors aside, pleasant scents create an “experience” and express individuality as much as one’s personal fragrances.

In recent years, companies that make some of the big brands in the $3 billion cleaning products category have acknowledged both personas and have introduced milder-fragrance formulations (like Fantastik® Orange Action). Those cover up—a bit—of the chemical aromas of their predecessors. The growth of organic food store chains, like Whole Foods Markets and Wild Oats, have introduced more people to “green products,” previously sought largely by those with prominent environmental or allergen concerns. They are gentle with nice fragrances, but are still commercially-made—i.e., not of the highest grade materials.

That honor belongs to a handful of boutique companies that are green, but first and foremost fashionable. This growing category began with The Good Home Co. which, in 1995, launched the first fragranced line of chic but gentle, earth-friendly house cleaning and laundry products*. Since THE NIBBLE’s focus is food scents, our “moment” begins with the launch of Caldrea Company in 2002. Since then, a number of companies have gotten into the act; as well as companies that simply exist to private-label product lines to specialty stores. Of course, as with food products, just because a cleaning line sounds delicious doesn’t mean that it delivers on its promise. So we sprayed and wiped and scrubbed and laundered our way through many bottles’ worth, and vote for:

*The Good Home Co. is not included in this review because its two main fragrance lines are not food-focused.

Overview

Is there a difference? Absolutely! They all did their cleaning jobs well, but each product line has different items, scents, styles of packaging and price points.

METHOD and the slightly costlier MRS. MEYER’S are priced to sell at the high end of fine supermarket products. Method is a futuristic “Jetsons” look, while Mrs. Meyer’s looks like it came from the country store. Method is the largest of the lines. There are products for every dedicated purpose, from stainless steel to wood.

NEU HOMECARE, in the middle price range of the group, strikes a nice chord with its elegant Eurostyle packaging, making its gift package appropriate for cleaners of both genders.

CALDREA has been a hot gift shop item since its introduction, and includes gifty items such as matching scented candles. It’s pretty and pricey and we wouldn’t spend our own money on it, but we love to receive it as gifts.

Each brand has cleaning products made from essential oils—natural, not artificial, scents that take housekeeping to a new level for food enthusiasts, in food scents like basil blue sage, pink grapefruit and lemon verbena. Some have laundry products as well as household cleansers.

The products are naturally-derived, phosphate-free, biodegradable and not tested on animals. Instead of the chemicals on the labels of mass-marketed cleaners, you’ll notice dish soaps made of soap bark extract and countertop sprays made of vegetable protein extract, e.g.

There are no corrosives. Gentle formulations are easy on the skin—and on and the lungs, too. Yet, the products get things clean!

The packaging is attractive—there’s no need to rush to hide cleaning products under the sink. They’re meant to look good on countertops.

Yet the main reason most people spend the extra money—$4.99 on a can of powdered scrub with lemon verbena instead of 79 cents on a can of Comet® powder with bleach—are the scents. They transport one from the drudgery of the scullery to—if one can make the analogy—a spa-like experience with one’s chores.

How Well Do They Clean? We found that all of the products worked exactly as they should. The powdered scrubs worked as well as Comet®, the all-purpose cleaners were as effective as our Orange Fantastik®. And the laundry products made us positively dance with the lovely fragrance they imparted to our sheets, towels and duds.

It’s important to note that our home doesn’t have “tough stains” like the homes in the T.V. commercials. We do not require industrial-strength cleaners. If we were taking on a monster cleaning project, we might consider the strongest products we could find.

How To Choose The Scent? Scent preferences are highly individual. Even names like “lavender” or “citrus” don’t help much. As with a shelf of perfumes similarly labeled, it’s each individual’s nose-to-product experience. Ideally, you’ll be able to sniff things out at a store that carries the line; but the good thing about cleaning products is that you’ll always need to buy more of them soon. You can start at the beginning of the list and work your way to the end until you’ve found “your” fragrance(s).

Caldrea

Why It’s Different: Caldrea is the high-end choice, a line designed to look like what ladies who lunch would have on their kitchen counters. Positioned as a line of aromatherapy-based cleaning products, it features multiple-note scents (e.g., citrus + mint + ylang ylang) rather than single notes like the other brands. It is sold largely through gift shops, and at price points intended for gifting.

The essential oils and other plant-derived ingredients are cosmetic-grade quality.

The company also makes cleaning tools—brushes, feather dusters, cloths, and an attractive 8-quart bucket (photo at right), which matches several of the different fragrance lines. So, a nice gift package can be put together for a bridal shower, a college graduate, or any friend who just loves to clean.

Caldrea Company also owns Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (see below) and makes private-label products for high-end retailers like Williams-Sonoma.

Fragrance

Products

Example

Basil Blue Sage: A French herb garden blend of basil, blue sage, rosemary and thyme, touched with cinnamon and spearmint.

Most products $8.00 to $12.00; laundry products are in larger sizes and cost $15.00 to $16.00. They can be purchased at fine retailers or online at Caldrea.com. For all products in this article, product availability is verified at publication but is subject to change.

Basil Blue Sage Sink Set

Citrus Mint Ylang Ylang Mini Sink Set

Green Tea Patchouli Candle

Method

Why It’s Different: Method truly “has it all”—great fragrance, product performance and style. It also has the best selection of pure fruit† scents: based in downtown San Francisco not far from the famous Farmers market at the Ferry Building, all that fresh fruit may be its inspiration. The brand is mass-distributed (e.g. grocery and drug chains, Target).

It’s apparent that the company cares about the environment, not just fragrance and packaging. They explain how the naturally-derived surfactants (cleansing agents) in the all-purpose spray and wipes, e.g., work by absorbing dirt rather than by chemically degrading it.

Caldrea is pretty, but we like the unisex packaging the best, designed by Karim Rashid: the Dish Soap and Cleaning Wipes containers evoke the Jetsons. The containers and their plastic-coated labels are also the most durable.

Most fun riff: instead of an ammonia-scented blue glass cleaner, you can get one that smells like mint!

†To sharp-eyed people who look at the list below: from a botanical point-of-view, the cucumber is actually a fruit, not a vegetable. Mint, we grant you, is an herb.

The four main cleaning products also are available in French Lavender. In addition, there are specialty sprays (bathroom, premium surfaces, wood); a laundry line (HE-compatible detergent, baby detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets); a hand and body line (hand washes, body wash, lotions, hand sanitizer); and aircare (spray, candle, capsule, and pill).

Cleaning products are $4.00 to $5.00. Purchase at fine retailers or online at MethodHome.com.

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day

Why It’s Different. Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day is owned by the Caldrea Company. It’s the company’s “value brand,” with most products priced $4.99 to $7.99 instead of Caldrea’s $8.00 to $12.00 price points, and has begun to get broader distribution at upscale household retailers and grocery chains like Whole Foods Markets. The packaging is the most basic of the three brands and the fragrances are one-note instead of its multi-note sibling. But the product line is as extensive as its pricey sister, and you can get essentially the same cleaning ingredients for 40% less cost than Caldrea.

Mrs. Meyer’s has only three fragrances. Two of the three fragrances, Lemon Verbena and Lavender are cooking herbs (note that Caldrea and Method also have lavender-based products, but we didn’t focus on them because of the variety of other fragrances).

Prices are $4.99 and $7.99 for most items. Purchase at fine retailers or online at MrsMeyers.com.

Carry-All Cleaning Kit

Basic Cleaning Kit

NEU Homecare

Why It’s Different: NEU homecare combines the best of all worlds. With elegant and graceful packaging that looks like a “home accessory” rather than a “cleaning product,” it is nice for gift-giving, with lovely scents. Sophisticated, unisex Eurostyle packaging and scents are a contrast to Caldrea’s more feminine presentation. The Gift Pak would be welcomed by your favorite Metrosexual.